We arrived in Jerusalem last night. We will be spending the last days of our trip here. We were supposed to have more time in Jerusalem but our schedule was changed when our trip was postponed because of the snow and we spent more time on the Sea of Galilee instead. The drive over the mountains from the Dead Sea to the city was really pretty.
Today we went to the Temple Mount and to the Western Wall. We were able to walk around the Temple Mount area and we also saw the Dome of the Tablets where some believe the Ark of the Covenant sat. We walked past the closed Eastern Gate, the oldest of the current gates in the Old City. At the Western Wall, in spaces between the stones, are little pieces of paper that have prayers written on them. There are two sections at the Wall. On the left side is for men and a smaller section, on the right side, is for women. We had to go through security like at the airport to get in. We walked down to the City of David and saw where David's Palace may have been. We also sat on the steps of the southern wall and saw archeological sites along the walk.
From the Old City area, we traveled to Bethlehem. First we ate lunch at a falafel and shwarma shop. The falafel was good. We did some shopping at an olive wood store across the street. I got a few things to take home. There were a lot of people on the street trying to sell us things. We visited the Church of the Nativity. We went down into the other side of the cave where it is thought that Jesus was born. The Church was very crowded. There are three Christmas celebrations here. One for Catholic, one for Armenian and one for Greek Orthodox faiths. We drove back to our hotel and had a night tour of the city. We saw Israeli government buildings, a windmill that was built in the 1800's and had a short stop at the Jaffa gate. There is an outdoor mall there with stores like at home.
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